Equity in Transit Service Planning Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3750 To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue best practices for providers of public transportation. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 8, 2021 Mr. BROWN (for himself, Ms. WILSON of Florida, and Mr. PAYNE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue best practices for providers of public transportation. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equity in Transit Serv- 4 ice Planning Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. EQUITY IN TRANSIT SERVICE PLANNING. 6 (a) BEST PRACTICES.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.— 8 (A) ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDERS OF PUBLIC 9 TRANSIT.—Not later than 180 days after the 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3750.IH H3750 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3750 IH date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 1 Transportation shall issue nonbinding best 2 practices to assist providers of public transpor- 3 tation in setting the threshold for a major serv- 4 ice change as described in Circular 4702.1B of 5 the Federal Transit Administration. 6 (B) SPECIFIC PROVIDERS OF PUBLIC 7 TRANSIT.—For the purposes of this Act, the 8 term ‘‘providers of public transportation’’ 9 means providers that operate 50 or more fixed 10 route vehicles in peak service and are located in 11 an urbanized area of 200,000 or more in popu- 12 lation. 13 (2) BEST PRACTICES.—In developing the best 14 practices described in paragraph (1), the Sec- 15 retary— 16 (A) shall issue specific recommendations 17 for setting the threshold of a major service 18 change, which shall include, at a minimum, rec- 19 ommendations related to— 20 (i) changes in hours of operations, in- 21 cluding consideration of changes during 22 nonpeak hours; 23 (ii) changes in the frequency of serv- 24 ice; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3750.IH H3750 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3750 IH (iii) changes in coverage, including the 1 opening and closing of stations and stops 2 and the changing of routes; and 3 (iv) the use of route-specific analyses 4 in addition to service-area level analyses; 5 (B) shall recommend specific percentage 6 change standards for the elements described in 7 clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of subparagraph (A) to 8 assist providers of public transportation in set- 9 ting the threshold for a major service change in 10 a manner that ensures meaningful analyses and 11 the provision of equitable service; and 12 (C) may issue different best practices for 13 providers of public transportation of different 14 sizes and service types. 15 (b) TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM 16 REPORT.— 17 (1) REVIEW.—Not later than 3 years after the 18 issuance of the best practices described in subsection 19 (a), the Transit Cooperative Research Program of 20 the National Academy of Sciences shall conduct a 21 review of the manner in which providers of public 22 transportation define the threshold for a major serv- 23 ice change for purposes of compliance with Circular 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3750.IH H3750 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3750 IH 4702.1B of the Federal Transit Administration, in- 1 cluding— 2 (A) a survey of the standards used by pro- 3 viders of public transportation to define the 4 threshold for a major service change; 5 (B) a review of the differences in stand- 6 ards used to define the threshold for a major 7 service change for providers of public transpor- 8 tation of different sizes and service types; 9 (C) information on the considerations used 10 by providers of public transportation when de- 11 fining the threshold for a major service change; 12 and 13 (D) the extent to which providers of public 14 transportation are using the best practices de- 15 scribed in subsection (a). 16 (2) REPORT.—After the completion of the re- 17 view described in paragraph (1), the National Acad- 18 emy of Sciences shall issue a report on the findings 19 of the review and submit such report to the Com- 20 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 21 House of Representatives and the Committee on 22 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3750.IH H3750 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS